How to Track Shipments in Epicor Kinetic
Epicor Kinetic handles orders and pack slips, but it was never built to answer "where is my order?" Here is how to add real-time tracking to your Epicor environment without middleware or CSV exports.
Epicor tracks orders, not shipments
Epicor Kinetic is a manufacturing ERP. It handles orders, jobs, scheduling, and shipping execution. It does that well. But when your customer calls and asks "where is my order?", Kinetic does not have a good answer.
Pack slips contain carrier tracking numbers. Those numbers sit in a database field. There is no dashboard that collects them into a visual tracking experience. No map. No customer portal. No way for your buyer to check status without picking up the phone.
This is not an Epicor shortcoming. ERPs are not shipment visibility tools. The tracking layer needs to sit on top of your ERP data, not inside it.
The spreadsheet-and-phone-call workflow
Without a tracking tool, most Epicor manufacturers end up doing some version of this:
- Copy tracking numbers from pack slips into carrier websites one at a time
- Keep a shared spreadsheet with tracking numbers, delivery dates, and manual status updates
- Answer phone calls and emails asking for status, look it up in Epicor, call the customer back
- For ocean freight, log into a separate container tracking site and cross-reference PO numbers with container numbers
This works until it doesn't
Manual tracking is fine at 10 shipments per week. It falls apart at 50 per day. A shipping coordinator fielding 20 status calls daily spends 5+ hours on status relay instead of actual logistics work. That is $45,000/year in labor cost for one person doing data lookups that software should handle.
The root problem: shipment data lives in three disconnected places. Epicor has order and pack slip data. Carrier systems have tracking events. Ocean platforms have container milestones. Nobody has a unified view.
How FreightPane connects to Epicor Kinetic
FreightPane reads your Epicor Kinetic REST API directly. No middleware. No ETL. No CSV cycle. When a pack slip is created in Epicor, it shows up on the FreightPane map within seconds.
- Provide your Epicor Kinetic API URL and company ID during setup
- FreightPane reads your ShipVia table and auto-maps each carrier code to the right tracking API (UPS, FedEx, USPS, LTL carriers)
- Pack slips, sales orders, and PO data flow live from Epicor to the FreightPane dashboard
- Every record links back to Epicor via deep links. Click a pack slip number and it opens in Kinetic.
Share links replace phone calls
The biggest time savings come from share links. For any shipment, FreightPane generates a branded tracking URL. Your customer opens the link and sees real-time status, carrier updates, an interactive map, and delivery milestones. No account. No login.
This is the same concept behind Amazon and Flexport tracking pages, built for B2B manufacturers on Epicor. Your customers check their own tracking. Your team stops being a human status relay.
Connect your Epicor instance in two minutes
FreightPane works with any Epicor Kinetic instance (cloud or on-prem). It is read-only and never writes to your ERP. Setup takes under two minutes, and there is no implementation project.